Another Night in Seattle
by Vatsyayana
Summary: My first short story about Reaver, with a cameo by Andi.


**Another Night In Seattle****  
><strong>By  
>Scott Harders<p>

It was a calm, cool night. The light from the downtown sprawl reflected off the dark clouds overhead as the rain came down in gentle sheets of mist-like droplets. Suddenly, the silence was destroyed by the sound of an explosion ripping through a small building right at the borders edge of Tarislar.

"Sigh, _another night in Seattle_," he thought.

Moving away from the window that overlooked much of Tarislar, he opened the door to the closet that was across from the bed where the lovely frame of a muscular, elf woman lay.

As he slipped into his Secure-Tech clothing, she lifted herself up off the bed. "The Ancients again?" she asked softly.

"Probably," he replied with a sign of disgust obvious in his voice.

"Do you want me to join you?" she asked with a hint of worry carried along in her silken voice.

He smiled warmly, "No my love. It will be alright. Try to sleep and I'll be back soon."

His clothes now completely on, he grabs a double shoulder rig holding two very large revolvers and then walks over to the bed as he slides the rig on. He leans down, kisses her deeply, then walks back out torwards the balcony; grabbing his grav belt on the way as he feels her eyes follow him as he goes.

The cool breeze and rain dances around him as he hefts up the grav belt and straps it on. He reaches for a data jack and plugs it in to the chrome plug under his ear. The data from the grav belt displays on his eyes, filtered into something readable by the data filter in his head. The turbine on the grav belt comes to life as the spell laced with it powers an anti-gravity field about him. Floating just off the deck, he gently moves a few meters up and then kicks the turbine up and flies towards the scene of the explosion.

SYSTEM INTERRUPT – UNKNOWN HOST ARRIVED

Oh, for those of you who may not know me, my name is Marhault Elsdragon. On the streets; and to my friends, I'm called Reaver. I am a shadowrunner living in an age of wonder. It is late 2059 and the world has changed quite a bit.

First off is the fact that the races of old have returned to the world. Elves, trolls, dwarves, orcs just to name a few. Hell, we even have unicorns again. Seems that the genetic markers for those races had been with us all the time, it just took rising magic levels to cause them to express again.

Oh yea, magic. That's another big change. We came to realize that magic works like a sine wave, rising and falling over thousands of years as the world keeps spinning along. It not only got high enough for people and creatures to express certain magical genetic traits, but also allows those rare few the ability to actually cast spells.

There have also been huge advances in technology. Cybernetics allow people to do things better, faster and deadlier than before. This melding of the man and machine interface has also allowed the creation of true virtual realities on an information autobahn called the Matrix. Even genetics has advanced, paving the way for tailored organs that work far superior to the original models.

Then there are the corporations. You see, corporations have become more powerful than governments, even to the point where they are almost treated as governments. You break a law on corporate property, and then you are subject to their laws, not the country to which that corporation is in. And that's where shadowrunners come in.

These massive, profit seeking corporations, are always trying to one up each other. To the point where corporate espionage has been come a lucrative business in and of itself. Oh, it's still illegal. Still, it's kinda like MI-6. The British government denies its existence, yet everyone knows where its offices are.

Well, that's enough of a history lesson, back to the action.

SYSTEM INTERRUPT – UNKNOWN HOST LEFT

On the street, a shoot-out is taking place. More like a battle actually. A cell of the Ancients that the Taigan Rangers have always had bad blood with has decided to cause some trouble. Across the street from the border of Tarislar, ten Ancients members have taken up cover within a building and are using full automatic weapons and rocket launchers to cause havoc and damage. Three Rangers are on the scene and trying to return fire, but are badly outgunned.

Using a shop at the corner for cover, they return fire with their recently issued gauss weapons. The 4mm needle-like gauss rounds rip through the armor of one of the opposing members, dropping him in a spray of blood. The remaining members increase their fire as the rocket launcher is brought to bear upon them.

The rocket flies from the launcher and hits the corner of the wall, exploding in an red-orange display of pyrotechnic furry. Chips of brick and fragments from the shell fly everywhere, wounding one of the Rangers as fragments tear through the sleeve of his armored jacket. Clutching his arm, he drops behind the wall, screaming in pain, as bullets ricochet all about in a hail of lead.

Surveying the scene from the air, he can see exactly what's happening. _"__The Ancients have gotten smarter. Picking a target in an area where no one is living so that the people won't be near-by to back the Rangers up.__"_ A sly smile develops across his face. Reaching up, he pulls both revolvers from their black leather cradles. Gripping the custom walnut grips, they fit smoothly in his hands. Data feed from his grav belt lets him know his exact altitude and air speed. The data jack letting him interface with it smoothly and efficiently, allowing him to keep his hands free for more important tasks. The data display from the grav belt is backlit perfectly in his eyes as he programs a dive towards the battle, both revolvers out as the smartgun links pick out targets in the fire lit darkness.

The Ancients continue to hail gunfire upon their dug in targets as the rocket launcher is reloaded. The Rangers, running low on ammo, try desperately to pick off the launcher before it fires again, knowing full well the next rocket could kill them. A flurry of rounds is fired by both sides and then the launcher is reloaded and is brought to bear against the Rangers.

Just as the Elf wielding the launcher is about to fire, a bright orange bolt of plasma hits him at the base of the neck, burrowing through his chest and blasting out right above his hip. The ground is covered in hot blood as the he drops. He's dead long before hitting the ground.

The remaining members look up to see Reaver himself descending upon them as another bolt of plasma fires out of the second revolver. The bolt splashes right into the face of one of them. Most of the plasma splashes off of his face, taking bits of melted flesh with it. Unfortunately, this means he is not killed outright. He screams in pain as half his face is removed and clutches tightly on his AK-98, pulling the trigger. The rifle jumps in his grasp as he writhes in pain. The fully automatic weapon driving rounds into the bodies of two of his teammates before the leader puts a bullet in his head.

The arrival of a new target forces the Ancients to change their fire. Reaver swoops by them to come around for another pass as the muzzles five AK-98's point at him a spit lead in his direction. Bullets and tracers fly by, some biting through his armor and inflicting wounds in his left arm and right leg, while some hit the grav belt itself.

"_Shit!_" He thought, "_That was stupid. Andi is going to maul me for that idiotic stunt._"

Warnings flash from the display of the belt as the damaged turbine fights to continue to provide thrust, the battery starting to overheat from the load. Seeing the warning for what it is and that the battery could burst at any moment, Reaver slides the guns back into their holsters, slips out the data jack and hits the quick release harness. His body flies free in a parabolic course from the belt as it continues flying for-ward, before the battery bursts and the belt erupts into flames.

After clearing the belt, Reaver activates a spell lock and his body disfigures and changes into a four meter tall demonic form with large bat-like wings. Claws replace nails and normal teeth become canine like points. The normal skin is replaced with translucent skin that is coated with slime. Pain from the transformation floods through him as he fights to fold out his wings, catching the air and swooping down, flying just a few meters off the street.

He flies toward the area where the five remaining Ancients are standing as they shoot wildly at the demonic target. Bullets fly past him as he zigs and zags, before bowling straight into one. The impact knocks the breath from the Ancient, causing him to drop his weapon. A split second later when Elf's senses come back to him, he realizes that he is in the clutches of this demonic form, which is flying higher into the air while dodging occasional gunfire from the ground. He spits into the demons face, which smiles at him with rows of shark like teeth, then let's go of him, a good fifty meters from the ground.

The scream from the Ancient comes to an abrupt halt when his body impacts the black asphalt of the street below. "_Some people never know when to give up," _he thinks to himself. The Ancients leader, seeing that things are going badly, orders a hasty retreat as the other Rangers fire at them. Their forms disappear into the dark, rain swept streets of Puyallup.

The Rangers pick themselves up just as reinforcements arrive and the wounded are rushed to the local hospital. Reaver smiles and knowing everything is under control and flies back to the spire.

The tall tower of granite looms ahead as his large, leathery wings beat in the cool night air. By the time he begins making his final approach; his healing magics have taken care of the remainder of his wounds.

Approaching the small mansion that sits atop a spire of rock, he glides right onto the balcony the he left from not all that long ago. He shifts form back to normal, gritting his teeth through the pain of the transformation. Then he puts his eye up to a retinal scanner before opening the sliding door made with high grade armored glass.

Reaver walks in so quietly that he could make church mice envious. He slips out of his shoulder rig, then his clothes. He then quietly slinks into the bathroom and cleans up, washing the blood from where the wounds once were. He looks in the mirror, making sure everything is healed. Water glistens off his muscular, black skin as he receives satisfaction from the results of the healing spell.

Once he's done he turns off the bathroom light, and then walks over to the bed where she lay quietly. He admires her lovingly before sliding under the covers softly, one would think almost imperceptibly. He snuggles right up behind her and wraps his arms around her warm body.

"Everything alright?" she asks softly, informing him that she knew he was there.

Reaver just smiles warmly as he replies, "Everything is fine my love, no problems at all."

Andi rolls over and looks him dead in the eye with one of those looks that would kill an unprotected Troll at fifty meters and says, "Then where is your grav belt?"

He sighs and thinks, _"Yep, just another night in Seattle."_


End file.
